A short post this to announce that my final infantry regiment in my Lace Wars Saxon Army by Mars is complete. A smaller group, Hayn’s Grenadier Battalion has red facings and mitres.
Family photo: Hayn’s Grenadier Battalion
The usual flag bearer and officers accompany 9 grenadiers.
With all six of my regiments now complete, I’ll very shortly be posting the whole infantry brigade together which I think comes to over 90 figures.
I have greatly enjoyed painting Strelets new War of the Spanish Succession-era British cavalry. In fact, I think this is one of the best sets I’ve painted of theirs for a while.
The sculpting of Strelets has gone through some changes over the years. Initially, their figures were considered a little ‘ugly’ by some but were infused with lots of character. More recent sculpting has seen their figures become much more anatomically and proportionally accurate but at the loss of some of that personality. This latest set happily seems to combine a little of both.
My regiment of horse has black facings and white hat lace around the tricornes (except the officers who have gold).
Having painted much Saxon infantry recently, I declared in a recent post that I’d paint them as Saxon cavalry – Beust’s regiment. This move was also inspired by my misplacing a key War of the Spanish Succession source book. I’ve now recovered it and have discovered that my figures could also possibly pass for the Schomberg’s Regiment of Horse (later in the century becoming known as the 7th Dragoon Guards).
There are four command figures, including two officers, a trumpeter and a standard bearer.
The two officers:
For the standard bearer below I’ve provided a guidon freely downloaded from the Tacitus website. I’ve changed the colour to a black to match their facings. Lit by lamps and photographed, it appears a little grey in images. The flag bears a very good resemblance to the regiment’s black damask flag from 1788.
The trumpeter:
Schomberg’s Horse had the origins of its lineage going back to December 1688 as one of a number of regiments of horse raised for William of Orange after he took the throne to replace James II. The regiment was present at all of the Duke of Marlborough’s major battles of the War of the Spanish Succession – Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.
Troopers at the trot or canter:
Troopers at the charge!
All in all, a fine addition to my Lace Wars project. I’ve a couple more boxes of cavalry to paint from Strelets for this era, so happily there are more to come!
The principal figures used are the firing line figures. They are some of the more awkward poses to be found in the box. For starters, the poses are a trifle gawky and the kneeling figures are almost the same height as the standing. What’s more, they all seem to aim far too high. Perhaps charging cavalry are closing in or perhaps the enemy is marching towards them steeply downhill!? I’ve counteracted that effect to a small degree by tilting those figures slightly forward on their bases.
The grenadiers and their NCO:
The regimental flag:
Some officers of Reuss’ Regiment:
The musicians:
I realise that these constant Saxon army posts must blur into one! I’d like to say that I’m working on something completely different – but I’m not. One final battalion to go and then it’s on to some Lace Wars cavalry which – err – also wear red coats…
The Martinière’s Regiment is one of two all-grenadier formations I’m creating which together allow me to make maximum use of the two grenadier poses in Mars Saxon Infantry box. There are sixteen figures in total for this regiment which includes 9 grenadiers, 1 NCO, 3 officers, 1 flag-bearing ensign and 2 musicians (a fifer and a drummer).
The grenadiers and their NCO:
The regimental flag:
The officers:
The musicians:
I particularly like the blue stockings of this regiment but I painted the musicians with white leggings to provide for a little extra distinction for them. And then I got carried away and accidentally painted one of the officers with white stockings too. Never mind, blame uniform shortages in the stores.
Two more infantry regiments to go, one of which is well advanced already and I’m ploughing resolutely on with the final one too!
I admit it. I’ve been quietly continuing on with my Mars Saxon infantry. It’s almost a mania.
To cut to the chase, I’ve now completed two of my six regiments – the Kurprinz and the elite Polish Guard. Each regiment consists of 9 troops, 1 NCO, a few officers, a flag bearer and two musicians (a drummer and fifer). The flags are based on the Polish Guard’s flag, featured on and downloadable from the Tacitus website. I’ve reproduced the same flag and given them a different background where appropriate based on the regimental facings.
Flag bearer for the Saxon Zeitz regiment.
The Kurprinz regiment in full:
Two dapper and haughty-looking officers of the Kurprinz Regiment:
Incidentally, I’ve given all the Saxon officers black sashes for no other reason than I liked it!
The full Polish Guard on parade:
Some officers of the Polish Guard:
Musicians of the Polish Guard:
I’ve also been working on a few other command figures for the other regiments:
A couple more regiments are nearly finished – so watch out for them. In other news, I notice that Strelets have been pushing on with their expanding War of the Spanish Succession range. It’s an embarrassment of riches, including
French artillery
British artillery
British dragoons
A ‘late war’ British cavalry regiment
Four separate boxes of French dragoons in various guises (skirmishing, ‘in reserve’, marching and attacking)
French musketeers of the guard
French Garde du Corps
French Royal Horse Grenadiers
A box of the last one on the list finally arrived this week and the figures look very nice indeed. My collection of troops from the Lace Wars looks set to grow over time!
I’ve properly got stuck into Ann’s “Neglected but not Forgotten” painting challenge with two examples of Saxon regiments from the manufacturer Mars now already painted. It only amounts to 10 soldiers, but it feels great to be back in my comfort zone of painting 20mm high plastic figures in colourful uniforms.
Five men in each regiment, sharing the same pose, representing two regiments of the Saxon army during the Great Northern War; these are the Kurprinz Regiment and Martinière’s Grenadier Regiment.
The Kurprinz Regiment:
The Kurprinz Regiment is numbered the 5th and has ‘Lemon Yellow’ facings. I’ve painted the collars on these figures in Lemon Yellow although according to the Tacitus website, “the collar was usually reserved for the coats of officers, NCOs and drummers, but possibly the guard regiments had it as well”. The hat lace is white, a colour typical for the Saxon infantry with red being reserved for very high status regiments.
The figure is sculpted quite effectively albeit the long coat looks a little unnaturally wide at the base. I quite like the somewhat shifty look of the faces. As with all my Great Northern War / War of the Spanish Succession figures, I’m keeping the bases deliberately very simple and uniform indeed.
Martinière’s Grenadier Regiment:
Using the numerous grenadier figures in Mars’ box to the full, I’ve replicated one of the two dedicated grenadier formations in the Saxon army – Martinière’s Grenadier Regiment. As with many early 18th century uniforms, details are scarce about this regiment but Tacitus relies on information in Lars-Eric Höglund’s book “Stora nordiska kriget 1700-1721, III” and an article from a defunkt website by Daniel Schorr; “Notes on the Saxon Army 1700-1716″.
Höglund’ had no information on this regiment but Schorr had “a speculative illustration of the uniform” which showed a blue grenadier cap with a gold plate, with blue breeches, stockings and cuffs. It all makes for a pleasingly exotic and colourful regiment!
There are more figures on the painting desk from this box and I’ll see how many more I can get done by the end of the challenge on the 2nd April. Currently, there are two more regiments going under the brush and they are well advanced already!
Now the FEMbruary Challenge is over, I felt in need of a new sense of direction in my hobby so when I saw Ann’s Immaterium recently post her own challenge, it was just what I needed. Ann’s “Neglected but not Forgotten” painting challenge has given me some impetus to pick up one of my many unused boxes. A quick rummage through the Suburban Militarism ‘war chest’ (actually a trunk containing some of my many unpainted boxes and kits) quickly revealed a candidate…
I’ve chosen a box of Mars’ Saxon Infantry from the Great Northern War containing 70 figures (more than the stated 56 thanks to an extra sprue I’d received some time ago). It’s a bit of a curio, being the only kit ever produced by Mars on the conflict, and being the only Saxon troops from the early 18th Century era by any manufacturer of 20mm plastics.
Mars may be the God of War, but the manufacturer hasn’t always been considered top of the pack when it comes to plastic 1.72 scale soldiers. The sculpting often gets a poor press on Plastic Soldier Review but this set deservedly got a decent 7/10. They’re not the most elegant figures ever created but what they do have is bags of character and lovely crisp details, something I always appreciate given my particular style of painting.
Manufactured in 2009, this set was out of stock for a number of years when I snapped up the box. Since then, it seems to have become more widely available again – albeit not so much in the UK for some reason. Anyway, having my 1 extra sprue allows me to group together some of the poses into battalions of five figures.
A five man group of Saxon grenadiers with an officer, musketeers behind.
The set is well stocked with officers and is made up of the following ‘big wigs’:
Having spent 2021 so far painting only metal figures at 28mm and 54mm scale, it feels great to be slumming it and finally getting my hands on some 1.72 scale plastic men once again – my first love!
If you’d like to join in (and why not?) I heartily recommend checking out the challenge rules on Ann’s post. The challenge ends on April the 2nd, so I’d better get a wiggle on with that bulging box of Saxons!
Thanks to the woeful bank holiday weather here in the UK, I’ve had plenty of indoor time in which to progress my Saxon Leib Cuirassiers. These are now, I’m happy to say, very well advanced. The riders are about finished, less the stirrups and spurs.
The excellent, not-to-say generous, old-style Zvezda kit comes with a flag bearer, an officer and trumpeter. The officer has a white plume and a wonderfully ornate cuirass to distinguish him from the hoi-poloi of the rest of the regiment.
I’ve given him a black crossbelt as 1) I believe that it was worn by Saxon cuirassier officers, and 2) quite frankly I preferred it to other possibilities. The officer also has gold wreath of leaves around the front of his helmet, not really visible on this photo. His cuirass has a brass royal cypher and studs around the edge. I found an example of one on the internet:
As with the rest of the regiment, he has only a half-cuirass, the back being left unprotected to reveal his white coat.
The Trumpeter wears reverse facings (i.e. a red coat and white collar instead of the exact opposite for the rest of the regiment). He does not wear a cuirass and has a distinctive red crest on his helmet. He has brass trumpet with ornately woven cord attached.
The flag bearer has a flag which is, I believe, supposed to represent the Von Zostrow Cuirassiers. However, I understand from my research that the Leib regiment’s flag was very similar, all but identical but for colour differences and so must have looked much like my ‘attempt’ below. On one side of the flag in the centre, surrounded by a garland of leaves, is the Saxon coat of arms – a yellow and green striped shield with a green diagonal stripe under a crown:
A closer view of the arms of Saxony
On the other side is the royal cypher surrounded by leaves under a crown. I admit that I wasn’t sure about the crossbelt for the flag bearer and so elected for black with gold trim.
The rest of the men wear a plainer uniform with black crests, white crossbelts and the black half-cuirass. They lack the brass shoulder straps seen on the officer which I believe is simply a rare oversight by Zvezda.
The collars and turnbacks are red with yellow trim and the cuirass is lined with red.
I have to say that when I spend far, far too long than is sensible shading and highlighting all that white clothing and black crests to my satisfaction – it’s disappointing to find that virtually none of it shows up under the camera! You’ll just have to believe me when I say they look a little better to the eye…
One other thing that I’ve noticed is that under the camera my cuirasses look more of steel gunmetal colouring than black. My approach is to mix black with gunmetal paint to get the required shade. This worked well but is at the cost of losing some of the metallic shiny surface. I’ve tried to restore the metallic sheen with a little gloss varnish but I now find that it reflects the light under the lens and now looks too metallic! I may add a little thin matt black paint to reduce the reflection a tad.
Next on the painting table will be their horses. These are sturdy and well-sought-after Holstein horses – perfect for carrying their heavy cuirassier riders. Although Napoleon plundered the regiment for these Holsteins for his own cavalry in 1806-07 campaign, we can assume that they have since arranged remounts. I believe that the regiment would have had dark bay and black horses. I’ll make an exception for the trumpeter who will ride the usual grey.
Well, I’m loving being ‘back in the saddle’ painting Napoleonic cavalry, I have to admit!
Taking a break from the First World War, I thought it about time to dip back into the old Nappy Cavalry Project (the last regiment in the series – the Mamelukes – being painted in July of last year). The set I’ve chosen to paint is a box I’ve had lying around for a couple of years or so but never got around to painting them. Finally, the time is right to tackle Zvezda’s Saxon Cuirassiers.
Thank you, young assistant. Presenting the latest in the Nappy Cavalry Project!
The figures are of Zvezda’s usual exceptional standard. These cuirassiers bear an uncanny resemblance to my Russian Cuirassiers of the same era which I painted over a year ago (see below example).
Both Russian and Saxon cuirassiers wore white coats with headgear of brass helmets and a black comb. Both also were protected by a black cuirass. By chance, both nation’s cuirassiers found themselves on opposite sides in the Russian campaign of 1812, including the great battle of Borodino. The Saxons, as a part of the Napoleon-sponsored “Confederation of the Rhine”, accompanied the 1812 campaign and fought alongside the French until their defeat at Leipzig in 1813.
Saxon heavy cavalry after 1800 numbered three Guard regiments, two of which – the Leib and the Von Zastrow regiments – were issued with front cuirass plates coloured black (there was no back plate worn).
Saxon Cuirassiers – Leib Regt (left) and Von Zostrow (right)
So my choice is between these two; the Leib Regiment with red facings and the Von Zastrow with yellow (as illustrated above). As my previous Russian Cuirassier figures of the Astrakhan Regiment also wore yellow facings, to better differentiate I’ve chosen the Leib Curassiers as the 26th regiment in the project.
In the Nappy Cavalry Project, I like to see as much variety as possible. This latest kit is certainly the first regiment from Saxony – which is good – but visually they will look similar to Zvezda’s Russians, even with facings coloured red. One area that I can differentiate them further, however, is in the riding overalls. My Russians wear campaign grey overalls on their legs whilst the Saxons are shown in buff on the cover of the box. This was their original colour prior to 1810, but the trouble is that most contemporary illustrations I’ve found show them wearing either grey overalls again or parade-ground white breeches.
So, in keeping with the central figure shown in the wonderful old Richard Knotel illustration of the Leib Cuirassiers above, I’m opting for white breeches. I’ll simply paint over the row of buttons on the side of the legs. Not being a war-gamer, I’m happy that they look more ready for the parade ground than the battlefield. The red-jacketed trumpeter and shabraques should add a further dash of colour too.
Painting has begun already, so expect an update when they’re more progressed.
Suburban Militarism 